Unconventional Heat Treatment of Spring Steel by Q P Process

Abstract

Newly developed methods for heat treatments and any necessary thermomechanical working have led to the achievement of excellent properties for new types of multiphase structures. One of these new methods is the Q-P (Quenching and Partitioning) process. The result is usually martensitic structure with a defined proportion of retained austenite. This process can be used for different kinds of steels with a tensile strength about 2000 MPa with retention of good ductility of more than 10%. The Q-P process was applied to experimental steel whose main alloying elements were silicon, manganese and chrome. The resulting specimens were evaluated metallographically, the proportion of retained austenite was ascertained by Xray analysis and mechanical properties were found using tension tests.